


At Least I Have You

by Janie Iscariot (TheOtherSarahJane)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mother Hen Papyrus, POV Undyne, Papyrus is a ray of sunshine, Platonic Romance, Undertale Neutral Route, Worried Papyrus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 07:56:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11180406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOtherSarahJane/pseuds/Janie%20Iscariot
Summary: The seventh human has taken several lives since falling into the Underground, and Undyne, having failed to stop them, is in a dark place. Thankfully, though, the human did spare Papyrus, and that just might be enough for now.





	At Least I Have You

Four hours, and still she couldn’t sleep.

Undyne turned over in her bed yet again. It seemed that was all she had the strength for at the moment. How was it possible, she wondered, to be so exhausted, so completely drained that your entire body ached, and still not be able to fall asleep?

The list of names cycled through her head again, each one a fresh blow to her gut.

Snowdrake. Ice Cap. Dogamy and Dogaressa. Woshua. Aaron. Shyren.

She’d failed them. She’d failed them all.

The thought sent a fresh wave of fatigue through her, and she let out a whimper so pitiful she felt a little ashamed of herself. Why did monster souls have to be so weak? If she had just been a bit stronger, she would have been able to stop that human in their tracks. If she would have known about it earlier, she could have halted them before they got so powerful, before they had a chance to leave a trail of dust in their wake.

But she wasn’t. She didn’t. And now they were gone.

Snowdrake. Ice Cap. Dogamy and Dogaressa. Woshua. Aaron. Shyren.

Gone.

Another wave of sorrow and anger, at the human, at herself, overtook her, carrying with it the worst pain she’d ever felt. Worse than losing her eye had been.

It really was true, she supposed. That a monster could die from losing hope.

It was something she’d always been dimly aware of. She’d always accepted it as fact. But that fact had never been so concrete, so tangible, as it was now. Maybe because she’d never thought it could happen to her, until now.

_What am I thinking?_

Undyne squeezed her eyes shut, bringing a heavy hand up to rub her frustrated eyes. As she did, a slight shuffling from the front of the house touched her ears, and she went rigid where she lay.

_The human. They’re back._

Forcing her sorrow aside, Undyne focused on the rage that thought drew up, deep within her belly, and found the strength to shove herself out of bed and trudge toward the door. She grew fiercer with each step, turning her grief into primal fury until she was stomping out her open front door, primed and ready with a spear in hand to meet—

“Papyrus?”

His eyes, wide with surprise, met hers from beneath her window. He sprung up to attention right away, his typical smile taking on a bit of a nervous fervor.

“UNDYNE!” He greeted, his gloved hands wringing furiously.

“Papyrus, what are you doing here?” As the rage left Undyne, her spear dissolved into emptiness, and she felt the exhaustion coming back, little by little, probably only staved off by the sight of her best friend.

“I WAS WAITING OUT HERE FOR YOU!” He chirped.

“Waiting for me…? Oh, you wanted to hang out earlier, didn’t you? Erm, sorry, Papyrus, I guess I just…wait. You’ve been waiting here this whole time? For four hours?”

He had to have been. Papyrus was here when she’d gotten home, saying something about wanting her to hang out with the human—she knew it wasn’t his intention, but the thought sent shivers crawling up her entire body—and then everything that had happened up to that point, all the deaths, her failure to kill the human, had hit her all at once, and she’d had to leave without saying much.

But that was crazy, he couldn’t have—

“YES!”

\--he had.

“Papyrus, that’s insane! You shouldn’t—why?”

At this Papyrus’ smile faltered a little.

“WELL, YOU JUST SEEMED VERY UPSET WHEN I ASKED YOU TO HANG OUT, AND THEN YOU COLLAPSED, AND…I KNOW YOU DON’T LIKE BEING TAKEN CARE OF, BUT I THOUGHT I WOULD STAY HERE AND WAIT, JUST IN CASE.”

“Just in case what?” The words came out harsher than she intended, and he flinched, just a little.

“IN CASE YOU NEEDED ME.”

“Needed you for what?” Again her words bit at the air between them, sharpened by the pain that was quickly returning all through her body. “I can take care of myself.”

“FOR ANYTHING.” Papyrus answered, and the honesty in his tone made something in Undyne ache a little differently than all the other things.

“Papyrus…it’s been four hours, and you’ve been just sitting around out here? Aren’t you cold? Don’t you need to sleep?”

“NOPE! NO SKIN, AND I’M USUALLY TOO BUSY TO SLEEP ANYWAY. BESIDES, HOW COULD I REST WITH SUCH AN IMPORTANT DUTY ENTRUSTED TO ME? WHAT IF YOU NEEDED SOMETHING TO EAT AND I WASN’T AWAKE TO MAKE YOU SPAGHETTI?”

Undyne couldn’t stop herself from letting out a small chuckle at his earnestness. She really shouldn’t be surprised—he’d waited outside her house all night to challenge her, when they met. At first she’d thought he was crazy. And…actually, she still thought he might be a little crazy. But it was something she’d grown to accept by now.

Besides, this was the first time she’d cracked a smile all day. She felt a little bit of the pain start to recede, just a tad. She opened the front door.

“WHAT’S SO FUNNY?”

“Nothing, just…get in here, you dork.”

“YES MA’AM!” He marched inside and immediately began babbling about fixing her up something to eat, making himself busy grabbing ingredients from drawers and shelves he’d long since memorized from visiting so often. Undyne sat herself down at the table, her entire body still feeling heavy, but significantly less anguished than before.

Snowdrake. Ice Cap. Dogamy and Dogaressa. Woshua. Aaron. Shyren.

The names rolled through her head again, like a morbid roll call. There was still a fresh spike of pain that came with each reminder of her failure, but as she watched Papyrus move about the kitchen, talking as loudly as ever to himself, a small sliver of comfort crept in as well, becoming a thin fog to dull the blows each name dealt.

_I’m so glad they didn’t take you._

**Author's Note:**

> Mother hen!Papyrus is best Papyrus. 
> 
> Inspired by the dialogue you get when you stop by Undyne's house on a neutral route in which Undyne and Papyrus are spared, where Papyrus is waiting outside to tell you that Undyne has collapsed. He also mentions that she hates being waited on hand and foot--which implies that this is a thing he has tried before--and that he's waiting there for her just in case she needs him, and both of those things are things that my poor heart just cannot take.
> 
> Also inspired by the headcanon/hints in canon that monsters can die of a broken heart--something that I'd like to see explored more in the fandom, honestly.


End file.
